On Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2019 at 12 p.m., the UVUSA held a question and answer event with High School Musical and Broadway star, Corbin Bleu. The moderator for the question and answer session was conducted by Noorda Director and Professor John Newman on campus at the Grande Ballroom. Newman asked Bleu a series of questions that were submitted by UVU students. A few minutes towards the end, students had the opportunity to come up to a microphone and ask Bleu some of their unanswered questions.
Newman asked questions that ranged from the items on Corbin’s bucket list to some of his dream roles and why he’d love to pursue them. Bleu also took the time to thoroughly answer some students questions, and was able to receive great feedback from the audience.
Throughout the event, Bleu talked about his career and the many opportunities he has had to be apart of productions such as, In the Heights, Kiss Me Kate, Jump In, Catch that Kid, Dancing with the Stars, and a variety of other Broadway and Television shows. His career started at the young age of two-years-old, both his parents were involved in the arts. He said that he, “grew up in a performing family,” however, his three sisters were not as interested in show business as his parents and him. Bleu bragged about the fact that his sisters were all geniuses, mentioning that one of them got into Stanford studying aerospace engineering, another sister was wanting to go into optometry, and the other is planning on going into nursing school.
Bleu also talked about his dad playing a major part in his career as he was growing up. Bleu said, his dad was his teacher and mentor. He also shared that the person he looked up to for being a performer was Michael Jackson because of Jackson’s work ethic and that he was a perfectionist.
Bleu got involved in the High School Musical series starring as “Chad Danforth”, “Troy Bolton’s” best friend. He mentioned that this was one of his favorite roles because it was a big turning point in his career. “We were kids in a movie,” said Bleu, he shared that he was only 15 and 16-years-old when working for the first High School Musical movie.
Throughout his teen years which enabled him to enjoy his youth, Bleu said, “A lot of child stars are surrounded by adults, which cause them to typically grow up too fast,” because Bleu was surrounded by other youth his age it allowed him to have fun.
Bleu also talked a lot about his experience staying grounded during his transition from childhood to adulthood, and gave students some advice. Bleu said, “Surround yourself with the proper team… people who truly care about you and have your back, you don’t realize the amount of energy you lose each day when you surround yourself with negative people.”
As he continued answering a variety of questions, Bleu created an atmosphere that was fun, exciting, and entertaining.
The question and answer portion was then concluded with a loud, “What team? Wildcats! What team? Wildcats! What team? Wildcats! Getcha head in the game!”
Brooke Collier, a junior from Lone Peak High School, decided to skip class in order to see her “childhood celebrity crush”. “It felt like I was in kindergarten again,” she happily exclaimed after Corbin Bleu high-fived her before exiting the room.
This event is one of the many reasons why UVU is a fantastic place to go to school! What team? Wolverines!
